What are Canada’s most irreplaceable exports to the US?

Mercedes Stevenson: Tariff Turmoil Canada Braces for what the US President may throw our way. I’m Mercedes Stevenson. The West Block starts now

as Canada’s embassy and Washington posts Videos like this are the two countries edging closer to a trade war. We speak with Ontario’s representative in Washington. Who is working to calm the waters? And last week we saw how the RCMP used a different method of procurement to get Blackhawks for the border.

Could that work for the military? We sit down with Chief of the defense staff General Jenny Carrey, and ask what she’s heard from the Prime Minister on much needed defense spending.

The give and take between what Washington wants and what Ottawa needs has traditionally been a delicate ballet, but lately it’s felt more like a full on cage match with Donald Trump. Now in office Canada is not sure quite when or where the next hit will land or what. Taunt will be launched.

Donald Trump: Canada has been very tough to deal with over the years.

We don’t need them to make our cars, and they make a lot of ’em. We don’t need their lumber because we have our own forests, et cetera, et cetera. We don’t need their oil and gas. We have our, we have more than anybody.

Mercedes Stevenson: The Prime Minister hit back.

Justin Trudeau: Donald Trump has announced that he wants a golden age. For the American economy, that means they’re gonna need more energy, more minerals, more steel and aluminum, more lumber, more concrete, more of the things that Canada is already sending them as a reliable and, and, uh, trustworthy partner.

Mercedes Stevenson: And those things are significant. About 80% of US softwood lumber imports are from Canada. 60% of US crude oil imports come from this country, and about 25% of steel imported to America is Canadian. But Donald Trump’s promise tariffs on Canada could start as soon as Saturday, and he’s directed his agencies to review trade packs with Canada.

Before April 1st, Trump’s threats have sparked a flurry of meetings in Canada and Washington. The latest was on Wednesday, which Ontario’s representative in DC attended. David Patterson joins us now. Thanks so much for joining us. Nice to see you, David. Nice

David Patterson: to see Mercedes,

Mercedes Stevenson: a pretty busy time for you. I would imagine with the inauguration.

Last week, the comments we heard from Donald Trump on Friday where he once again referred to Canada becoming the 51st state, saying that he would not tariff Canada, of course, if we became an American state and that Canadians would pay lower taxes and received better healthcare. What’s your take on his ongoing 51st state narrative, um, and the continued targeting of Canada at Davos, uh, on Inauguration day, and then again on Friday?

David Patterson: Well, it, you know, from here in Washington, um, I’ve been here for the last year and, uh, you know, meeting with Republicans throughout this time and recently, and, uh, as my wife says to me often, you know, sometimes it’s not all about you. And I know we focus on, uh. We focus on what is happening, um, uh, with respect to to Canada all the time down here.

Um, you know, it’s a much broader, uh, very big agenda change and, uh, things like tariffs and, uh, the like are being muted as being something that he could impose on every country. And so not just Canada, but of course, um, Canada’s um, a really important one and the biggest trading partner really for, for the United States.

So it gets a lot of attention, but, uh, I think, you know, it’s sort of standard military procedure to, uh, so havoc and, uh, disruption before, um, things get moving and, uh, and so. Um, I think we can, we can probably get a little bit overly focused on these kinds of things when we have other things we could be focusing on.

That could be, I think, more helpful in getting us through this next little bit of time and, uh, and, and back onto a really good, um, balance. I,

Mercedes Stevenson: I, I think it’s unique in the sense that, I mean, we’re. Uh, a very close ally. We’re a NATO member. We have the longest und defended border in the world. And, and you’re not just talking about the tariffs, you’re talking about this strange rhetoric around the annexation of, of Canada.

You’re obviously talking to Republicans who know Donald Trump. It, it sounds like, are they telling you, you know, this is all, uh, just a bunch of words. It’s threats, it’s a negotiating tactic. It’s part of his philosophy of the deal. Or what are you hearing from Republicans? Do they think maybe he. He’s serious about this.

David Patterson: I think Republicans are, are excited about the, the new administration. Um, they are all very aware of his approach on things. Um, not surprisingly, he uses that sometimes on his own party to move things through. And we’ve seen something of that just in the last couple of weeks here with, uh, with a, a couple of amazing u-turn in Congress and the like.

And so. That’s part of the, the modus operandi and, uh, I don’t think we should be surprised. We’ve seen it before. We saw it in the first administration and we’ll continue to see it. But I think what’s most important in the discussions that I have here is that underlying that there is an economic logic to what is happening here that’s important to pay attention to.

Um, you know, Mr. Trump has got, I think in a simplified way, uh, a very significant. Three point agenda of, you know, revive the economy, make, uh, the United States an energy superpower. And every conversation here that I’m in begins and ends with national security. And whether that’s security vis-a-vis China or the border or Mexico, those are.

Um, very, very important aspects. They played out during the election and I think we would be wise to pay attention to that broader set of objectives rather than some of the call them tactics that, uh, the president obviously enjoys using.

Mercedes Stevenson: When President Trump says, we don’t need Alberta’s oil and gas or Ontario’s autos.

Uh, obviously it’s a huge part of the economy for Canada. It’s a substantial part for the US too. What do you hear from Republicans about that and, and what are you saying? When you talk to officials in the Trump administration about this.

David Patterson: Yeah, certainly. I mean, for the last year myself and my colleagues from Alberta and from Quebec have been meeting, um, all across the United States, and especially here in Washington with Republicans.

Um, I have not had a bad meeting or a bad word from a Republican in the last year. I mean, generally people love Canada. We’re running ads down here that are warmly response. Um, responded to from Ontario, reminding them of our, uh, how important we are as allies and how we’ve stood together. Um, and so, uh, for us, I think it’s a little easier as provinces because people are generally surprised to, to learn that, for example, provinces own the natural resources.

In Canada, that’s not the case with states in the United States. And so, for example, we bring as, uh, interlocutors here, uh, all of the critical minerals of Ontario. Um, those. Those that are in the ground and those that are already being processed and are absolutely vital to the United States. So, for example, nickel, uh, nickel is something that, uh, comes from Ontario.

It’s high grade and it’s not replaceable from other places in the world, uh, for military purposes, for ammunition, for batteries, all kinds of things. And we’re talking about a very high volume. There is no nickel. In the United States, they are dependent on that from Canada and they’ve cut it off from other sources in other areas like uranium for example, used to get that from Russia.

We don’t do that anymore in the United States here. So there’s a lot of, um, dependency That’s sort of an inconvenient truth, I think. And what I uh, find is when I talk to, uh. Uh, senators and when I talk to members of the house, they know that especially as it relates to their own states, I come from the auto sector.

Many, many states, um, are really mixed together with the auto sector dependent on parts from Canada. And I can tell you, having worked at General Motors that um, it doesn’t take many weeks before plants in the United States will shut down for lack of, apart from Canada. And so, uh, that dependence, you can say whatever you like, is just an economic fact.

Mercedes Stevenson: Do you think that critical mineral should be on, on the table as, as something Canada would be willing to withhold from the US If tariffs happen,

David Patterson: I start looking at it as actually an opportunity, um, in that, um, I think that. Canada, and I think this is what Premier Ford has done, is to try and focus on, uh, the other side of the equation.

What could we do or accelerate, uh, together in some of these areas where you are dependent on us, what could we do in terms of expanding that relationship in terms of, um, helping to get, uh, critical minerals that you’re cutting off from China, how do you get them outta the ground faster? Working with us, we have nuclear power.

In Ontario, 50% or more of our base load. But we’re also leaders in small modular nuclear technology that is very interesting to Republicans and certainly to America’s biggest growth industry, artificial intelligence because there is nowhere near enough electricity to grow the compute that is needed for the, uh, the most important industry for the future.

So. In all these sort of traditional areas of export, uh, there is an awful lot of dependence. You could walk the border and talk about everything from uranium and nickel to aluminum, et cetera, where you just can’t unscramble the eggs. You certainly can’t do it in the short term. So our proposal is, let’s make a bigger omelet.

What are the things we could do to. To do together. And I think that is the pathway that will resolve this ultimately. And it’s really the case of finding the deal that will, uh, that will be, um, acceptable and exciting for, for the president. And I actually believe we can get there, but I think we will feel a lot of pain beforehand, unfortunately.

Uh, because, uh, I think tariffs are real.

Mercedes Stevenson: We just have literally about 30 seconds left. But I wanted to quickly ask you, have you found it’s been more effective to work? With your provincial colleagues so far than the Canadian Federal government in these negotiations?

David Patterson: Yeah, we have our swim lanes, as I’ve mentioned.

We’re responsible for electricity and for, uh, for owning the natural resources. That’s really positive and interesting. The federal swim lanes. They’re tough ones. You know, immigration borders, defense Americans are not really very happy with the way that Canada has not, uh, led up to its defense spending has dealt with the border, has dealt with a whole bunch of things.

So I think we’ve been a little negligent at the federal. I. Uh, uh, level for a bit of time. Um, and, uh, we need some improvement there. Um, and so we’ll work together with, uh, whoever is the next prime Minister to try and make sure that we can, uh, put the things on the table that will get us through and we will get through.

But, uh, we’re gonna need to be a little bit more.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7K6BkUMLd_k